Ed Sheeran on Kanye, the pool at Dubai’s airport and Kris Fade’s beard

Ed Sheeran told Kris Fade that he cuts his beard with a pair of wallpaper scissors. Getty Images

During a backstage interview with Virgin Radio, Ed Sheeran interrupted presenter Kris Fade’s introduction to tell the presenter “You’ve got a very well cut beard.” While Fade confessed he got it specially sculpted at a barbers ahead of the meeting, Sheeran admitted his own facial hair was self-cut with a pair of wallpaper scissors.

It was the British singer’s first gig in the UAE, but during stopovers he’s discovered a luxury at Dubai International Airport many mere mortals do not know even exists – a swimming pool on the roof.

But did he dive in?

“No – you don’t get off a flight and think ‘I fancy a dip.’

“This is my first time here and it’s everything I expected it to be – and more. Lots of my mates live out here.” Speaking of mates, Sheeran’s famous friends Taylor Swift and One Direction came up.

As did Sheeran’s recent feud with feud with Oasis man Noel Gallagher, who declared “I don’t think I can live in a world where [Sheeran playing Wembley] is even possible,” after Sheeran sold out three nights at the 80,000-capacity stadium. “Everyone is a phone call or a text away, even people I don’t even really know. There was a lot of stuff with Noel Gallagher saying stuff. And I have his mobile number. So I read that and I texted him, and it was fine.”.

“So it’s the same for any group of friends – if I heard someone had said something, it’s so much simpler to just talk to someone.”

He even found time to speak up in favour of the notoriously outspoken Kanye West. “If he didn’t make good music and had nothing to back it up, I’d be like ‘What’s he doing?’ “But he does, so let him get on with it. He’s an artist, and we’re all mental. All artists are mental – however normal we seem of the outside, we are all crazy.”

And just for the record, he saw #thatdress as blue and black but said he didn't know how that had become news. "I remember looking at that and thinking what a load of... how is that? Why is this front page news? There's definitely something that made the news that day that they had to cover up."